Purely from fleeting memory the straight-8 cars are sometimes credited largely to Alfieri Maserati's input. Marque enthusiast Frank Lugg sent me screeds of paperwork many years ago which indicated far more credit is due to Ing. Giuseppe Coda (? memory, once more) and he felt that this gentleman should
also be credited with much of the design thinking, and perhaps detail too, which subsequently emerged in the first Maseratis.